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New Requirement for U.S. Birth Certificates

Beginning April 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of State will require the full names of the applicant’s parent(s) to be listed on all certified birth certificates to be considered as primary evidence of U.S. citizenship for all passport applicants, regardless of age. Certified birth certificates missing this information will not be acceptable as evidence of citizenship. This will not affect applications already in-process that have been submitted or accepted before the effective date.

In addition to this requirement, certified copies of birth certificates must also include the following information to be considered acceptable primary evidence of U.S. citizenship:

Full name of the applicant

Date of birth

Place of birth

Raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal of issuing authority

Registrar’s signature

The date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office (must be within one year)

If you have a birth certificate that does not meet these requirements, please see Secondary Evidence of U.S. Citizenship.

Secondary Evidence of U.S. Citizenship

If you cannot present primary evidence of U.S. citizenship, you must submit secondary evidence of U.S. citizenship.

Determine what form of secondary evidence is most appropriate for your situation based on the descriptions below.

Early Public Records

If you were born in the United States and cannot present primary evidence of U.S. citizenship, submit a combination of early public records as evidence of your U.S. citizenship.

Early public records must be submitted with a birth record or Letter of No Record.

Early public records should show your name, date of birth, place of birth, and preferably be created within the first five years of your life.